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Formal Epistemology and Philosophy of Science

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Formal Epistemology and Philosophy of Science

Oggetto:

Anno accademico 2021/2022

Codice dell'attività didattica
FIL0287
Docente
Jan Michael Sprenger (Titolare del corso)
Corso di studi
laurea magistrale in Filosofia
Philosophy International Curriculum M.A.
Anno
1° anno 2° anno
Periodo didattico
Primo semestre
Tipologia
Caratterizzante - Ambito: Istituzioni di filosofia
Crediti/Valenza
6
SSD dell'attività didattica
M-FIL/02 - logica e filosofia della scienza
Modalità di erogazione
Tradizionale
Lingua di insegnamento
Inglese
Modalità di frequenza
Obbligatoria
Tipologia d'esame
Scritto
Prerequisiti

Elementary knowledge of logic and philosophy of science, interest in scientific reasoning. The course does not presuppose knowledge of the theory of probability, or other mathematics. Students without relevant background are welcome, but you may have to do extra work for filling the gaps. The course is also of interest for continentally oriented philosophers.


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Sommario insegnamento

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Obiettivi formativi

Is science a rational endeavor? How should we understand causality? Is scientific method reliable and are we justified to trust in it? These are the three guiding questions of the course. Students will be challenged both on a conceptual level – e.g., we debate various explications of complex concepts such as causation – and on the level of formal reasoning, where they are familiarized with basic concepts of statistical inference and techniques for causal inference (e.g., causal Bayes nets).

The technical parts of the course are no "l'art pour l'art", but an essential prerequisite for understanding debates about the reliability and fruitfulness of modern science, and for being able to form a balanced judgment about these topics. Achieving this judgmental capacity is, ultimately, the main objective of this course.

Vedi la descrizione in inglese.

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Risultati dell'apprendimento attesi

Students will be able to answer the question what distinguishes science from other human endeavors, and to which degree (and in which respects) it is rational and can be trusted. They can also assess the scope and limits of scientific knowledge, they understand why science is often successful, and they appreciate the significance of scientific reasoning for other kinds of human endeavor. On the level of acquired skills, following the course will improve their analytical reasoning skills, train them in rigorous argumentation and familiarize them with scientific tools for probabilistic and causal reasoning (e.g., the Netica program).

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Modalità di insegnamento

Mixture of lectures and seminar. Active contribution from the participants is a prerequisite for passing the course.

The course will be taught in the traditional way, i.e., exclusively in class. We will start with in person classes in the week of 4 October, i.e., on 7 and 8 October. On Thursday 30 September at 14:00, I will hold a brief WebEx meeting (in my WebEx room: unito.webex.com/meet/jan.sprenger) where I will briefly present the course contents.

Vedi la descrizione in inglese.

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Modalità di verifica dell'apprendimento

Essay (ca. 3,000 words) and written exam. These two elements count equally toward the final grade (45% each). The remaining 10% of the grade is determined on the basis of contributions in class.

Inserire qui il testo in italiano (massimo 4000 caratteri). Non eliminare l’indicazione “Italiano” tra le parentesi quadre; è necessaria per la creazione dell’etichetta di visualizzazione del testo in italiano. Una volta inseriti i testi eliminare queste indicazioni in modo che non risultino visibili agli studenti.

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Programma

The course introduces the students to central debates in philosophy of science, such as the rationality and progress of science, causation, induction, scientific objectivity, values in science, and so on, with a focus on contemporary debates. These topics are mainly approached from an epistemological perspective. Questions we discuss are:
– What distinguishes genuine, knowledge-generating science from pseudo-science such as astrology?
– Can the problem of induction (i.e., challenging the rationality of inferring from past to future experience) be solved?
– What are the standard models of causation developed in philosophy and the sciences?
– Can science be free of political, religious and social values? (Think of research on gender or race differences, for instance.) Would this value-freedom be desirable in the first place?
– Can science be trusted in spite of the large uncertainties it comes with? How does it cope with the replication crisis?
– Why is the epistemology of science so important for a philosophical study of human knowledge?

The course is structured as follows:

  • Week 1 and 2: Scientific Rationality. Recapitulation of classical contributions (Popper, Kuhn) and its application to "creation science". Exposition of the historical lines going back to logical empiricism (Carnap, Reichenbach).
  • Week 3 and 4: Causation and Bayes Nets. Discussion of David Lewis' counterfactual model of causation, contrast with probabilistic causality and introduction to tools for causal modeling with Bayes nets. Use of the Netica program for causal reasoning.
  • Week 5+6: The Reliability of Scientific Inference. Introduction to statistical inference in science. The replication crisis and the influence of values and questionable research practices on the accuracy of scientific results. The Incentive structure of science and a socio-epistemic perspective on scientific inference.

Vedi la descrizione in inglese.

Testi consigliati e bibliografia

Oggetto:

Inserire qui il testo in inglese (massimo 4000 caratteri). Non eliminare l’indicazione “English” tra le parentesi quadre; è necessaria per la creazione dell’etichetta di visualizzazione del testo in inglese. Una volta inseriti i testi eliminare queste indicazioni in modo che non risultino visibili agli studenti.

Inserire qui il testo in italiano (massimo 4000 caratteri). Non eliminare l’indicazione “Italiano” tra le parentesi quadre; è necessaria per la creazione dell’etichetta di visualizzazione del testo in italiano. Una volta inseriti i testi eliminare queste indicazioni in modo che non risultino visibili agli studenti.



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Note

The reading list will be published during the first class: during the course we will read and discuss various articles together in class.

Vedi la descrizione in inglese.

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Ultimo aggiornamento: 22/09/2021 12:42
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